Merrill consolidates as it marks 50th year of business

On Dec. 31, Merrill Technologies Group of Saginaw will conclude its 50th year in business by implementing the final phase of its goal to become fully integrated.

The final phase is a corporate naming and brand unification program. Merrill Technologies Group will consolidate its four wholly-owned subsidiaries (Merrill Tool & Machine, Merrill Fabricators, Merrill Aviation & Defense and Merrill Engineering & Integration) into a single operating company called Merrill.

The goal to become vertically integrated is the result of a five-year strategic plan the company started in 2015. Since then, Merrill and its subsidiaries have undergone major changes by launching a corporate-wide advanced planning and execution center, investing in a new enterprise resource planning system and consolidating its legal and financial reporting. A total re-branding of the subsidiaries under the Merrill primary brand is the final phase in becoming fully integrated.

"This is one in a series of moves that will position our company for another 50 years of success," said Merrill Chief Executive Officer Robert Yackel. "We are committed to growth and the security that controlled growth brings to our customers and our team members. As we plan for our next half century in operation, it's critical that we make changes that support our vision of being a robust enterprise capable of sustaining growth."

"Merrill customers will realize improved on-time delivery, quality and pricing as a result of these changes," said Executive Vice President and COO Jeff Yackel. "This realignment allows us to better utilize our available resources, in turn enabling us to better support our customers' schedules, technical and cost objectives."

"We simply outgrew our previous business model," said Director of Marketing & Communications Andrea Fisher. "Merrill developed organically over the last 50 years into a collection of interrelated organizations. Each organization was created to serve a specialized need for production or more effectively serve a specific industry. The result was four operational silos. What our customers want today is a vertically integrated, single supplier who can do it all - design, fab, machine and integrate. One Merrill is that solution.

"This is a far greater effort than simply putting up new signage on our buildings and ordering new business cards. The very nature of our growth caused separations within our employee culture. Team members identify with their facility name and logo. One Merrill is the process of bringing the entire Merrill family together, both operationally and spiritually," she said.

That process began on Dec. 15 when Merrill's workforce of some 350 individuals entered Horizon's Conference Center to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

They came as members of individual Merrill subsidiaries. By the end of the evening, they had been exposed to their new brand identity and left as one team.

Merrill's external stakeholders will start seeing the company's new brand on Jan. 2 with the launch of a unified web site. The program will run through March 2019. At that time, the company plans to have all marketing material converted to reflect the Merrill logo and 'Anything is Possible' brand promise, Fisher said.